Despite the disturbance from the violinist downstairs, Ernesto attempts to call back his dead wife, Esperanza. The night, however, does not end as Ernesto would have hoped, when what should have been a romantic evening ends in heartbreak.

In the 1980s, at the height of the Cold War, a bloody civil war between the Soviet-friendly Sandinistas and U.S.-backed Contras ravaged Nicaragua. Despite the danger, thousands of Americans disobeyed White House warnings and descended upon the Central American nation, determined to lend their skills and labor to the social-democratic Sandinista cause. Using an eclectic mixture of rare archival footage, arresting still photography, and contemporary interviews, American/Sandinista tells the story of a small group of controversial U.S. engineers who partnered with local communities and went further than anyone expected, risking their lives in the process.

In 1999, two brothers were deported from the United States to Mexico. Within two weeks, one of them overdosed on heroin in a seedy Tijuana hotel room, his body left unclaimed for two months in a mass grave. These U.S.-raised men, military veterans, were deported from the only country they knew—and had sworn to protect—to forge new lives in Mexico. Against the backdrop of increased attention to the U.S.-Mexico border, filmmaker Monika Navarro draws on her family’s experience to explore national identity and ties, the lives of immigrants, and what happens after deportees are sent to a homeland they don’t consider home.

Bracero Stories explores the personal experiences of five former “guest workers” in the controversial US-Mexican government Bracero Program, which granted temporary work contracts to millions of Mexican laborers between 1942 and 1964. Their stories are interwoven and illustrated with archival materials, creating a composite narrative of the “bracero” experience. Interviews with other participants in the program assess its effectiveness—and its justness. These discussions mirror contemporary concerns about illegal immigration and the possible implementation of a new guest worker program. Ultimately, the film seeks to put a human face on the concept of foreign “guest worker.”

Children of the Amazon follows Brazilian filmmaker Denise Zmekhol to the heart of the Amazon rainforest, in search of the indigenous children she photographed 15 years before. The film invites the viewer to see through the eyes of these inspiring, remarkably resilient people, whose lives have been transformed by a road that was carved through their forest home by an outside world. Poetic and visually stunning, this film engages the senses and sympathies as global issues take on a profoundly human perspective.

Ever since Brian Marquez was murdered on a San Francisco street corner in 2005, his father, Luis, has been on a quest to find the killers that took his son. During the traditional Mexican holiday of Day of the Dead, Close to Home portrays a father that has yet to deal with the death of his son, and a daughter who longs to reconnect with the father she once had.

Conversations II offers an intimate look at the female universe; a journey in time through evocative images and the testimonies of women from the same family. Through the personal search of a daughter into the lives of her mother and grandmother, the film explores the evolution of the female role in a Latin American society and how the views of marriage and motherhood have changed with each generation, as well as the view that women have of themselves.

Crude tells the epic story of one of the largest and most controversial legal cases on the planet. An inside look at the infamous $27 billion “Amazon Chernobyl” case, Crude is a real-life, high stakes, legal drama set against the backdrop of the environmental movement, global politics, celebrity activism, human rights advocacy, the media, multinational corporate power, and rapidly disappearing indigenous cultures. Presenting a complex situation from multiple viewpoints, the film brings an important story of environmental peril and human suffering into focus.

What do you do if the day your first child is to be born is also the same day your father is to be executed? If you are twenty-six-year old Manny, you use your father's impending execution as an excuse to flee the daunting responsibility of fatherhood. There's only one problem: Manny lives in Monterrey, Mexico and his father sits in on death row in Texas. Against his wife's wishes, Manny embarks on an ill-planned quest to cross the border to see his father, hoping that the trip will buy him time and insight into his upcoming responsibility.

Past and present collide as filmmaker Natalia Almada brings to life audio recordings she inherited from her grandmother—reminiscences about Natalia’s great-grandfather General Plutarco Elías Calles, a revolutionary general who became president of Mexico in 1924. In his time, Calles was called “El Bolshevique” and “El Jefe Máximo” (the foremost chief). Today, he is remembered as “el Quema-Curas” (the Burner of Priests) and as a dictator who ruled through puppet presidents until he was exiled in 1936. Through his daughter’s recordings, El General moves between the memories of a daughter grappling with her memory of her family life versus history’s portrait of her father, and the weight of his legacy in the country today.

Exiled In America is a film that explores immigration issues in the United States related to detention and deportation from the point of view of those most affected: children. Over 1.5 million immigrants have been deported since 1996—a policy that has torn families apart and led to human rights violations. Exiled In America tells the story of five siblings who struggle to live in America after their mother was deported to Mexico.

Jonathan French, a little white orphan boy, was adopted as a baby by his Mexican Nanny and Gardener in Beverly Hills. On his 10th birthday, he was miraculously blessed by the Virgin of Guadalupe with the gift of music. While Juan rises from the half-empty soccer bars and Mexican restaurants of East L.A. to international stardom, he changes for the worse, under the influence of a wanna-be Puerto Rican movie star and Cuban talent manager. And when the dark truth about his history is revealed, he must choose between the American-Mexican man he feels he is in his heart, and the 33 year-old bald white guy he sees in the mirror. This irreverant musical mockumentary finds the humor in one man’s search for ethnic identity against the backdrop of a celebrity obesessed culture.

The movie documents a cross-cultural conquest dance, La Danza de la Pluma, which evolved from Zapotec dance rituals in Oaxaca under the influence of the Spanish colonizers. It incorporates the struggle between Moctezuma and Cortez, Christianity and paganism, with several variations as to the ultimate victor. It has deep cultural significance and importance, with dancers committing themselves for a three-year period, and involves much ritual preparation and community involvement. The movie focuses on the dancers' motivations, their three-year commitment, the sacrifices involved, and how this ancient tradition has survived.

For over 50 years, the Kahnawake Mohawks of Quebec, Canada occupied a 10 square-block hub in the North Gowanus section of Brooklyn, which became known as Little Caughnawaga. The men, skilled ironworkers, came to New York in search of work and brought their wives, children and, often, extended family with them. Little Caughnawaga tells the personal story of Mohawk filmmaker Reaghan Tarbell from Kahnawake, Quebec, as she explores her roots and traces the connections of her family to the once legendary Mohawk community through the stories of the women who lived there.

Los ojos de Javier is a short narrative written and shot in two days for the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities. It tells the story of Javier, who wakes up one day to find that his eyes have walked out on him. They did not bother trying to explain the reasons why, they just packed up their stuff and left. The film deals in a light, comedic way with the serious issues of soul disability and loss of identity.

Nashville, Tennessee, the “buckle of the Bible Belt” and the country music capital of the world, has become one of the most popular destinations for Latino immigrants. Despite the recent growth of this community, until December of 2007 Hispanic Catholics in Nashville did not have a place of worship they could call their own. This film follows the story of Nashville’s first 100% Hispanic Catholic church from the idea of its creation through its inauguration six months later. The film depicts a community that is proud and grateful, having finally found its own place for its members to let go of their minds, let go of their spirits, and truly be free.

Shopping to Belong is a documentary about the relationship between consumerism and the sense of belonging and citizenship among Latino immigrants. This documentary aims to explore the hypothesis that immigrants use shopping as a way to feel part of this country, given that it is one of the main cultural activities in the United States. This documentary shows this process through interviews with first generation immigrants who come from various parts of Latin America; they all have different immigration histories and have lived here from only a few months to as long as 25 years.

The near future. The world is divided by closed borders but connected by a digital network that ties together people around the world. Memo Cruz lives in an isolated farming community in Mexico, the kind of place that seems frozen in time—except for the hi-tech, militarized dam that was built by a corporation, and now controls the town’s water supply. Memo dreams of leaving his small pueblo and finding work in the hi-tech factories in the big cities in the north. On his journey north, he meets Luz, an aspiring journalist who dreams of writing a story that might one day change the world. Unwittingly their fates are manipulated by a chain of events emanating from the highest levels of technological advances.

On May 20th, 1997, the team leader of a four-man US Marine unit conducting a counter-narcotics mission near border-town of Redford, Texas shot and killed 18-year-old Esequiel Hernández, Jr. within sight of the Hernández home. It was the first time an American citizen had been killed on US soil by the military or National Guard since 1970. None of the marines was ever charged with a crime. Compelled by the current political climate on the US-Mexico Border, the marines agreed to be interviewed for the first time for The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández. The film contrasts their frustration and guilt at having killed one of the citizens they were pledged to protect, with the anger and grief of a family whose son died at the hands of their own military. Narrated by Texas’ own Tommy Lee Jones.

As part of its new policy to end the “catch and release” of undocumented immigrants, the U.S. government opened the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in May 2006 as a prototype family detention facility. The facility is a former medium-security prison in central Texas operated by the Corrections Corporation of America, the largest private prison operator in the country. The facility houses immigrant children and their parents from all over the world who are awaiting asylum hearings or deportation proceedings. As information about troubling conditions at the facility leaks out, three activist attorneys seek to investigate and address the issues.

This is the story of the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas, a Native American tribe indigenous to the state. Though they have been present in Texas and the surrounding areas for hundreds of years, their story is hardly taught and their existence is not recognized. In October 2008, members of the Lipan Apache Tribe opened the first museum for the continuation and preservation of their culture. This documentary aims to bring awareness to one Native American group that has become endangered through centuries of oppression and assimilation. As Lipan Tom Castillo expressed, “Hopefully now we can tell our story. Without fear.”

The Other Side of Immigration examines the causes and effects of international migration from the perspective of rural Mexican communities where large numbers of people leave to work in the United States. The film explores how NAFTA, Mexican agricultural policies, and Mexican politics have stimulated emigration over the past two decades; the extent to which households in rural Mexico directly and indirectly depend on money that undocumented immigrants send home; and the effects of emigration on families and children left behind in rural Mexico.

Emmett Deemus, a semi-delusional 70 year-old Outlaw Biker wannabe has just helped a friend escape an assisted living facility when, in mid-flight, his motorcycle breaks down and neither has enough money to fix it. Seeing several motorcycles parked outside a suburban garage, Emmett stops to ask for help. When he discovers that a gang of young outlaw bikers are holding a voluptuous young lady captive inside, the “Outlaw Emmett Deemus” decides to single-handedly save her in order to collect the reward money, which would allow him to fix his cycle.

Set in a small mining town in Northern New Mexico, Things We Do For Love is a short film about how far one family is willing to go to show their love for one another. When Mom's brother dies unexpectedly he is buried in a town too far from home, so the family decides to go get him and bring him home. An unexpected complication during the trip home leads to a strange but touching solution.